Estimation of the Magnetic Electron-Density Distribution by RXMS at the Electronic Transition in Absorption Edge

Electron-density analysis has been developed to make use of the intensity difference in the resonant X-ray magnetic scattering (RXMS) between left- and right-circular polarizations. The magnetic electron density was obtained at the electronic transition energy, E = 7.1082 keV in the Fe K pre-edge by using the difference-Fourier synthesis. Difference peaks due to magnetic electrons of Fe(3)O(4) appeared in the difference-Fourier maps, where Fe ions in the B site have a pair of positive peaks of 0.36 e/angstrom(3) in height at a distance of 0.63 angstrom from the center. The magnetic electron densities are caused by magnetic unpaired 3d electrons in the FeO(6) octahedron, where the pre-edge peak is prohibited by the selection rule in the dipole transition with the O(h) symmetry. Thus, it has led to the contribution from the quadrupole transition or the hybridization related to the A-O-B superexchange interaction among neighboring ions.